Vultaggio driving stolen vehicle from Gaylord

July 06, 2007|By Michael Jones, Staff Writer

GAYLORD — The Otsego County Sheriff’s Dept. (OCSD) learned of Thursday’s fatal shooting of an Indiana State Police trooper after they entered the vehicle number of a car which shooting suspect Joseph M. Vultaggio Jr.’s father reported stolen by his son Wednesday night.

Authorities in Wabash County, Ind. reported Vultaggio allegedly shot 41-year-old state trooper David E. Rich from the stolen vehicle when he stopped to assist what he believed was a stranded motorist. The 21-year-old Gaylord man then reportedly turned the gun on himself, police said.

According to Otsego County Sheriff Jim McBride, Vultaggio’s father, Joseph M. Vultaggio Sr., had reported his company vehicle, a 2004 Pontiac Aztec, had been taken from the family’s Bagley Township residence by his son Wednesday night without permission.

Less than 24 hours later, investigators in Wabash County found Vultaggio dead inside that vehicle from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Indiana State Police officials. Trooper Rich was lying beside the vehicle, dead from a shotgun wound to the chest, they reported.

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“We had no inclination there were any circumstances that this would turn out the way it did,” said OCSD deputy Tim Hogan, who responded Wednesday night to the local stolen car complaint.

“There had been no arguments between any family members. I think the father was making a report because it was a company vehicle and his son wasn’t authorized to drive it.”

According to Hogan, Vultaggio’s parents passed their son as he was backing out of the driveway. They were returning from out of town after having visited their daughters. Hogan said the complaint was filed about two hours after Vultaggio left in his father’s company car. Hogan confirmed the younger Vultaggio had been living at his parents’ Bagley Township residence at the time of the incident.

Hogan said he had contact with the family 10 days prior to Wednesday’s stolen car complaint. They had reported their son had been missing for 36 hours with no word of where he might be. Shortly after contacting the sheriff’s department, Hogan said, the family called back and informed him they had found their son who had apparently been staying at the family cabin near Alpena.